Topic: Jason Werth

Jayson Richard Gowan Werth (born May 20, 1979) is an outfielder in Major League Baseball who currently plays for the Philadelphia Phillies. He was mainly a bench player with the Toronto Blue Jays and the Los Angeles Dodgers, but became a starter in 2007 after an injury to Shane Victorino.

Werth was born in Springfield, Illinois, and comes from an athletic family. One sister, Hilary, was a scholarship track athlete at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), while his other sister, Hannah, is a scholarship volleyball player for the University of Nebraska and his brother Adam plays soccer for Syracuse University. He is the son of Jeff Gowan (who led all Division I wide receivers in receptions while playing football for Illinois State University in 1976, and played in the St. Louis Cardinals minor-league affiliate, the Johnson City Cardinals, in 1978) and Kim Schofield Werth, who competed in the U.S. Olympic Trials in the long jump and 100 meters. He is also the grandson of Ducky Schofield and nephew of Dick Schofield, both Major League Baseball infielders, and stepson of Dennis Werth, who played in parts of four seasons with the Kansas City Royals and New York Yankees from 1979–1982. Werth is married with two children.

Werth teamed up with three other pitchers to combine for a no-hitter in a 56–1 victory, en route to a third-place finish at Nationals. He first gained attention while attending Glenwood High School in Chatham, Illinois, where he compiled a .652 batting average in his senior year with 15 home runs in 31 games.